Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month: May 2012

In 1978, a joint congressional resolution established Asian/Pacific American Heritage Week. The first 10 days of May were chosen to coincide with two important milestones in Asian/Pacific American history: the arrival in the United States of the first Japanese immigrants (May 7, 1843) and contributions of Chinese workers to the building of the transcontinental railroad, completed May 10, 1869. In 1992, Congress expanded the observance to a monthlong celebration. Per a 1997 Office of Management and Budget directive, the Asian or Pacific Islander racial category was separated into two categories: one being Asian and the other Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. Thus, this Facts for Features contains a section for each.

Asians

17.3 million

The estimated number of U.S. residents of Asian descent, according to the 2010 Census. This group comprised 5.6 percent of the total population. This count includes those who said they were both Asian alone (14.7 million) and Asian in combination with one or more additional races (2.6 million).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Brief - Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin <https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf>

5.6 million

The Asian alone or in combination population in California; the state had the largest Asian population in the 2010 Census, followed by New York (1.6 million). Hawaii had the highest proportion of Asians (57 percent).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Custom Table 3, <http://2010.census.gov/news/press-kits/redistricting.html>

46%

Percentage growth of the Asian alone or in combination population between the 2000 and 2010 censuses, which was more than any other major race group.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Custom Table 3, <http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn123.html>

3.8 million

Number of Asians of Chinese, except Taiwanese, descent in the U.S. in 2010. Chinese-Americans were the largest Asian group, followed by Filipinos (3.4 million), Asian Indians (3.2 million), Vietnamese (1.7 million), Koreans (1.7 million) and Japanese (1.3 million). These estimates represent the number of people who reported a specific Asian group alone, and people who reported that Asian group in combination with one or more other Asian groups or races.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census, Table QT-P8,
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_SF1/QTP8>

12%

The poverty rate for single-race Asians in 2010, not statistically different from the 2009 poverty rate. Between 2009 and 2010, the poverty rate increased for non-Hispanic whites, for blacks and for Hispanics.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010, <https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/incpovhlth/2010/highlights.html>

Voting

589,000

How many more single-race Asians voted in the 2008 presidential election than in the 2004 election. All in all, 48 percent of Asians turned out to vote in 2008 — up 4 percentage points from 2004. A total of 3.4 million Asians voted.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Voting and Registration in the Election of November 2008, <https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/voting/cb09-110.html>

1.5 million

Number of businesses owned by Asian-Americans in 2007, an increase of 40.4 percent from 2002.

$506 billion

Total receipts of businesses owned by Asian-Americans, up 54.9 percent from 2002.

45%

Percentage of Asian-owned businesses that operated in repair and maintenance; personal and laundry services; professional, scientific and technical services; and retail trade.

47%

Percentage of businesses in Hawaii owned by people of Asian descent. It was 14.9 percent in California and 10.1 percent in New York.

508,969

California had the most Asian-owned firms at 508,969 (32.8 percent of all such firms), followed by New York with 196,825 (12.7 percent) and Texas with 114,297 (7.4 percent).

Languages

2.8 million

The number of people 5 and older who spoke Chinese at home in 2010. After Spanish, Chinese was the most widely spoken non-English language in the country. Tagalog, Vietnamese and Korean were each spoken at home by more than 1 million people.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, Table B16001,
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/B16001>

Jobs

48%

The proportion of civilian employed single-race Asians 16 and older who worked in management, business, science and arts occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses. Additionally, 17 percent worked in service occupations, 22 percent in sales and office occupations and 10 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, Table B24010D,
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/B24010D>

Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders

1.2 million

The number of U.S. residents who said they were Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander, either alone or in combination with one or more additional races, according to the 2010 Census.

This group comprised 0.4 percent of the total population. More than half of all people who identified as Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander reported multiple races (56 percent).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Brief - Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin, <https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/briefs/c2010br-02.pdf>

Hawaii had the largest population of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders among the alone or in combination population with 356,000, followed by California (286,000). Hawaii had the largest proportion of Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders (26 percent).
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census Redistricting Data (Public Law 94-171) Summary File, Custom Table 3, <http://2010.census.gov/news/press-kits/redistricting.html>

Jobs

26%

The proportion of civilian employed single-race Native Hawaiians and Other Pacific Islanders 16 and older who worked in management, business, science and arts occupations, such as financial managers, engineers, teachers and registered nurses (not statistically different from service and sales occupations). Additionally, 24 percent worked in service occupations, while 27 percent worked in sales and office occupations and 14 percent in production, transportation and material moving occupations.
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 American Community Survey, Table B24010E,
<http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/10_1YR/B24010E>